The felony welfare fraud trial of Andrea Natelle Garcia, a recently ousted Shelby Village Council member, has been postponed to May 15 from April 4.

Oceana County 27th Circuit Judge Anthony A. Monton approved the rescheduling Monday, after granting a motion to allow Garcia's public defender, Robert D. Springstead, to withdraw from the case. The withdrawal was based on a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.

Monton declined to appoint a replacement public defender. Indigent criminal defendants have a constitutional right to a lawyer at taxpayers' expense, but not to pick their own court-appointed lawyer. Garcia is free to hire her own attorney.

Garcia, 50, of 250 N. State faces one count of welfare fraud of more than $500 and one count of "failure to inform," both felonies punishable by up to four years in prison. She was charged last October after an investigation by the state's Office of Inspector General.

Shelby voters overwhelmingly removed Garcia from her long-time council position in a recall election Jan. 15. She had served 11 years on the council. The recall margin was 368-67.